SYNOPSIS

In 2009, Kendrick Chandler is drafted by the Los Angeles Gold Rush, as a point guard, his dream of playing professional basketball has suddenly become a reality.

Kendrick’s accomplishment comes with strings that tie him, for better or worse, to his father Sharif, who became a legend playing center for the Gold Rush a generation ago.

Despite breathless predictions from the media of a potential “Chandler Dynasty,” Kendrick barely knows his father; his parents divorced soon after he was born and Kendrick has spent the majority of his youth, except for one disastrous senior year of high school he’d rather forget, in the same working-class Chicago neighborhood where his mother, Sandy grew up.

Now Kendrick will have to navigate a high-profile, hyper-masculine world of competitive sports, big money and celebrity.  Perhaps Sharif can provide guidance, as he seems anxious to mend his relationship with Ken.  Ken sees an opportunity to restore the bond with his father and younger half-brother, Shahid and heal the schism dividing his family.

Sharif, down on his luck after a series of bad business decisions, may be able to provide much needed guidance.  He seems anxious to mend his relationship with Ken— or is he doing so under the directive of his new business manager, Christie Gonzales, who sees Kendrick’s new career as a jackpot she and Sharif can’t afford to let slip through their fingers?

Kendrick’s older sister, LaTisha also hopes to cash in.  Thanks in large part to Kendrick’s success, the struggling freelancer has been offered a book deal.   A lot of people in America won’t accept the court’s ruling that erstwhile centerfold Penny Lambert’s death at a 1996 New Year’s Eve party was an accident.  Many believe that her ex-husband Miles, a short-stop for the Dodgers and one of Sharif’s few close friends, murdered her.

Kendrick attempts to blaze a path to a future of enduring success but finds himself retracing a lot of his father’s ruinous mis-steps.  The Gold Rush are coming off of a weak season that’s left them with low morale and Nick McNair, the visionary owner who made the team great in the Eighties, has had to turn over the franchise to his children, with resulting tensions in the front office.  Meanwhile, LaTisha sifts through the wreckage of past damage that continues to litter Kendrick’s playing field, delving into the private affairs of their notoriously enigmatic father, butting heads with the old boys of the sports and entertainment world.

Kendrick has succeeded as his father did before him, but will he succeed in escaping his father’s fate?  And what exactly was that fate?